Keeping you up to date - Literacy.

Reading - Students are all reading one of two novels, exploring and discussing.
Under the Mountain By Maurice Gee
A classic award winning children’s novel. I believe to be the best children’s science fiction /fantasy book available, by a superb NZ author.

I am not Esther by Fleur Beale. (for students who have recently read Under The Mountain)
Another award winning children’s novel by another awesome author. Lots of twists and turns in this exciting story.

Narrative Writing – Putting learning into action. We have been studying the genre of narrative. See previous posts on narrative focus.
Students are now creating their own narratives with the main focus of: Capturing the audience’s attention by writing short stories, which are well crafted and interesting to read. Say a lot with a little.

A good short story packs a punch and can surprise you as you read! we need to be precise with our language so that others can enjoy our thoughts without getting lost in the waffle.

It is important that as writers we take responsibility for every word used. We need to make specific choices about the language and structures we include in our writing so that the maximum meaning and effect is gained when reading it.

Oral language - I am so impressed with the speeches so far and today we heard the last ones. (more information on speeches can be found on My Blog)
Also we are having rich group and class discussions as part of our current unit.

Handwriting – We have been doing a bit of a handwriting blitz this term, with students working on individual handwriting goals. Students are graded. As they reach a level 4 they do not need to practice handwriting, although the four students who are at this level are working towards keeping consistency at speed, in order to achieve a level 5.

Spelling – Currently students are working on personalized learning goals in relationship to gaining accuracy in their writing. Yesterday each student produced a 100 word recount. I will be analyzing these writing sample in order to give students their next learning goal.